The Infinite Hotel Paradox - Jeff Dekofsky
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-infinite-hotel-paradox-jeff-dekofsky The Infinite Hotel, a thought experiment created by German mathematician David Hilbert, is a hotel with...
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In the 1920's,the German mathematician David Hilbertdevised a famous thought experimentto show us just how hard it isto wrap our minds around the concept of infinity.Imagine a hotel with an infinite number of roomsand a very hardworking night manager.One night, the Infinite Hotel is completely full,totally booked up with an infinite number of guests.A man walks into the hotel and asks for a room.Rather than turn him down,the night manager decides to make room for him.How?Easy, he asks the guest in room number 1to move to room 2,the guest in room 2 to move to room 3,and so on.Every guest moves from room number "n"to room number "n+1".Since there are an infinite number of rooms,there is a new room for each existing guest.This lea...
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In the 1920's,the German mathematician David Hilbertdevised a famous thought experimentto show us just how hard it isto wrap our minds around the concept of infinity.Imagine a hotel with an infinite number of roomsand a very hardworking night manager.One night, the Infinite Hotel is completely full,totally booked up with an infinite number of guests.A man walks into the hotel and asks for a room.Rather than turn him down,the night manager decides to make room for him.How?Easy, he asks the guest in room number 1to move to room 2,the guest in room 2 to move to room 3,and so on.Every guest moves from room number "n"to room number "n+1".Since there are an infinite number of rooms,there is a new room for each existing guest.This lea...
